Southbridge schools: State-appointed receiver says much work remains

Monday

SOUTHBRIDGE – The public schools’ turnaround plan will be renewed for another three years, state-appointed receiver-superintendent Jeffrey A. Villar said recently.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Mr. Villar said. “Our performance is nowhere near what it needs for the state to say, ‘We’re done.’ ”

The system, which has about 2,000 students, is preparing for its fourth year under state control. The first day for Grades 1 to 12 is Aug. 26.

Administrators and teachers hope to build more trust this year.

Mr. Villar discussed the topic at length, as did Jocelyn Tallis, the new president of the roughly 200-member teachers union, in a separate interview.

Mr. Villar said: “I can’t do it alone. It means families and teachers working together.

“There’s like a mystique here,” he said. “Everyone thinks that everyone has an angle, (that) I’m here for some nefarious purpose.

“I took this job for a very clear purpose, and it’s kind of like a trajectory of my career, in my mind, at least,” the receiver said. “This is a culmination in many ways, and I absolutely believe we’re going to get the job done.”

The receiver was scheduled to meet Ms. Tallis for the first time Monday.

The previous union head, science teacher David Williams, worked closely with the receiver, but Mr. Villar said he wished they could have accomplished more.

“I think there’s still a lot of mistrust among teachers and administration, and it’s essential that teachers feel supported and valued by administration because they’re the part of this equation that’s going to make the biggest difference,” Mr. Villar said. “We need the best teachers, and they need to know administrators are working with them to make sure they have what they need to be successful.”

Mr. Villar answers solely to state education commissioner, Jeffrey C. Riley, who rated Mr. Villar 4.25 on a scale of 1 to 5 this summer. Mr. Villar said he’s happy the commissioner is pleased with his work, but he notes that he needs to continue to work toward gaining the community’s trust.

Mr. Villar also suggested there are people who believe he will resign before the district sheds its Level 5 status.

“If you look at, really, the past decade, I’m by far the longest tenured leader in the district now,” Mr. Villar said. “I think there’s just been so much upheaval, so they’re expecting that should happen again.”

Mr. Villar said he’s not satisfied with student outcomes thus far.

“We’ve made progress, but a lot of it is foundational progress that’s not likely to be measureable,” he said. “But I’m committed to the work.”

Foundationally, the district has made significant changes that will start to be visible in time, Mr. Villar said.

“Systems, the hiring process, uniform handbooks across schools, and implementation of (the student information system called) ASPEN will start to take hold,” he said.

The top priority remains hiring good teachers and keeping them, which has been a constant struggle.

The district began the summer needing to hire 33 educators. It started hiring earlier, in March, and hired for anticipated openings, Mr. Villar said.

By comparison, at the start of the past two summers, it has needed to hire upward of 80 teachers.

Historically, many teachers have waited until August and September to notify the district they weren’t coming back, and so it remains to be seen if the number of teachers needed swells, Mr. Villar said.

As of last week the district needed two high school math teachers and a chemistry teacher.

“I was able to hire someone who will be a science supervisor from Rhode Island,” Mr. Villar said. “She has 30 years’ experience, is a nationally certified teacher, and she’s going to teach chemistry for a while until we find someone,” he said.

Then she’ll work on kindergarten through Grade 12 science curriculum, Mr. Villar said.

Last year’s high school chemistry teacher was arrested after allegedly planting a bullet in the school, in an ill-gotten effort to bring attention to teacher safety.

“We have to hire better than that,” Mr. Villar said. “We can’t hire people with that kind of judgment.”

To help put teachers at ease, Mr. Villar said, the district sent letters of assurances to 80% of the approximately 200 licensed teachers, to tell them that they would be retained regardless of the budget scenario.

“Anyone who was concerned about that didn’t go out looking for work if they felt they had it,” he said. “So I think that might have reduced people leaving. Having principals try to have conversations with their staff members, talk to them about their plans, and connect with them” were efforts in the spirit of being transparent.

The remaining 20% couldn’t be given letters of assurance for various reasons, such as, they might have been teaching on a waiver and needed to do something to maintain their license.

Mr. Villar expressed that he wasn’t shy about wanting to recruit top teachers from other districts.

“What I’m willing to do is match existing salaries in our shortage areas like science and math,” he said. “So regardless of what our salary structure was, I’d be willing to say, if you’re at top step in your district then I’ll match that amount of money, so they don’t lose money.”

For candidates with exceptional backgrounds and qualifications, he said, “I’d be willing to issue their permanent teaching status upon hire so that they would maintain their tenured protections.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Tallis, an elementary school education assistant, said that by her count, the district will have 67 new teachers and possibly more next year.

The union leader said educators remain concerned about “the giant power” the receiver has, and what she said was the lack of clarity in how long the state will remain at the helm.

“When there’s an issue,” she said, “people are afraid. There’s fear and there’s also a lot of trauma.

“We come in every year and there are promises made. They can’t be kept and I’m not saying it’s necessarily the receiver,” she continued.

Ms. Tallis suggested state leadership hasn’t brought the district the administrative consistency that a district review in 2015 said was lacking.

“We’re going into year 4 with a third receiver,” she said.

But she said she’s hoping to bridge the gap in trust and looks forward to Monday’s meeting.

This summer, Ms. Tallis and fellow union board members Christen Hutchinson, Laura Teczar, Stacy Hayes, Peg Lanctot and Kelly Gemboski went knocking on teachers’ doors regardless of where they lived.

The message, she said, was “we’re here and we want the union to be strong again and for your voice to be heard."

They held small meetings and parties trying to build relationships and share experiences.

She said those things were “lost because there was so much fear and trauma” due largely to the climate.

Ms. Tallis notes that more than 50% of the student body is Hispanic. She said the district must do a better job hiring male Puerto Rican educators, because they serve as role models for minority students. Last year while she was teaching in an elementary school, she said, the custodian was only Puerto Rican man in the building.

To that end, she said, one the broader stances she’ll take as union president is that the Massachusetts Test for Educator License is very difficult to pass, in general. But for educators whose primary language isn’t English, it excludes teacher-worthy Hispanics.

“It’s like a broken system,” she asserted.

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